HELP! Former College Defensive Lineman Looking To Decrease Weight, BF

[House]

Hey guys.

I played football at a D-1 school for 2 years as a walk-on defensive lineman.
At my peak, I was benching 345 and parallel squatting 525 while cleaning 225.

Although these are not gaudy figures for a linemen, they are nevertheless above average. However, do to heavily concentrating on school, having to work for the first time and other personal struggles, I had to quit and have been inactive for almost 2 years.

I went to the gym the other day and could barely do 10 reps of 135. I was embarrassed. It is possible for my muscle mass to have decreased so much?

I am 6'3, 310 pounds. I have cycled weight before, from 325 down to 285.
My goals are the following:

- Weigh between 230-250 pounds
- Become solid in all areas
- Become leaner
- Significantly decrease body fat %

I have a family history of heart attacks and I do not want to contribute to an early demise. What should a "big man" like me do to drop the weight but not lose muscle?

I love olympic style lifting and i feel its very beneficial (works several key areas) so I still want to incorporate it into my workout.

For eating purposes, I am currently re-thinking my diet:

(Obviously, variations will occur, this is just a sample)
Breakfast: Cereal and a glass of apple juice, no milk with cereal
Mid Morning: Chewy granola bar
Lunch: Turkey and Ham sandwich with Sun-chips
Pre-Workout: Power bar or other bar
Dinner: chicken, fish or a steak.

I plan to drink a lot of water.

As far as my workouts are concerned, I'm thinking of alternating Cardio days with gym days.

On my cardio days, should I be running and doing other activities or just running?

I am a big guy, but I used to row crew and if you know anything about the sport, its intense. 5 mile runs daily, etc. So I can build endurance pretty quickly.

My immediate goals are not a six pack or whatnot, I just want to first drop weight and build muscle definition (as linemen, we just had a big fat slab of muscle for arms lol).

I came here because you all seem very helpful. Detailed advice would be GREATLY appreciated and I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you!

 

[AJP]

The main thing that is gonna need to change is your diet. I would figure out your BMR to see how many calories you burn ona regular basis without doing anything, then see how many you burn with the given activities you do and add that number to it...then work from there.

You're gonna wanna be eating in a caloric deficit which would be below that number, but you should be eating well. Check out LV's grocery list in the nutrition section.

It's important to eat throughout the day, I would shoot for 6 times, but never to be full. Lean protein with every meal. Your carbs should mainly be coming from veggies, complex carbs in the morning, and around (and after) workouts. Simple carbs should be limited to immediately after workouts. Good fats should be in there as well.

Two "diets" you could look into either now or possibly after you get a better diet going would be the "get shredded diet" and "the velocity diet." Both on Testosterone Nation, go look for them. The velocity doesnt sound "right" but if you read up on it and do it correctly, it should work.

Cardio is cardio no matter how you look at it, it'd be great to alternate it with lifting days, 3 lifting, 3 cardio, 1 off would be good.

 

[dswithers]

Your proposed diet is probably not going to get you the results you want. In simplest terms you should focus on lean protien sources, vegetables and fruit: no starches, prepared foods (cereals, breads, sun-chips, granola bars, etc.), fruit juices, etc. Next you need to adjust your macronutrient levels (fats/carbs/protien). Most of us have found very helpful for that.

 

[House]

thanks guys.

much appreciated.